a joy from start to finish

Alain Planès at long last concludes his Harmonia Mundi Debussy cycle with a two-disc set that upholds his excellent standards. There's much to savour. Sample the pianist's warm, intelligently modulated sonority and calm sense of line in the first two Images oubliées and the Sarabande from Pour le piano. Then clear your palate vis-à-vis Planès's vivacious, dry-point articulation in Jardins sous la pluie that evokes cascading raindrops of all shapes and sizes. Perhaps it's slightly un-kosher to raid piano duet masterworks for soloistic purposes, yet Planès's sophisticated textural layering in a two-handed transcription of the Six Epigraphes antiques nearly made me forget the original. The pianist also lavishes care and consideration over the short pieces. Le plus que lent emerges less like a vignette than an epic, whose unexpected moodswings and tempo fluctuations convinced me only after several auditions. But Planès's lush, serious and cannily voiced Réverie conveys a depth of feeling beyond the salonish norm many pianists prefer.
The Mazurka and Le petit nègre gain sharpened rhythmic spring through Plainès's measured, firmly held basic tempi. Aside from a few jangled moments like the climaxes of Pour le piano's Préludeand Tarentelle styrienne, Harmonia Mundi's engineering does full justice to the pianist's attractive sounding Steinway.

There's much to savour.

played with consummate artistry…Throughout Planès is as dedicated and perceptive as could be wished for. The recording and presentation are excellent.